Seventeen Tips For Gaining Full Command Over WordPress Visual Editor

Visual editor in WordPress is generally used by the users of WordPress users when they want to write posts. It is not really used for any other reason. The special feature of the WordPress visual editor is that it presents to you an exquisite environment that basically follows the mantra of 'What you see is what you get'. With the help of this feature you can create any kind of content you want. Though on the surface it may seem like this feature of WordPress is easy to use and will not need any specific kind of knowledge to use it, there are some important pointers that you should keep in mind if you need to make the best use of the Visual editor. These tips aren't that popularly known and can come in handy if you are aiming at increasing your productivity in general.

The basic thing that you need to know about the Visual Editor is that just like WordPress this editor is also a software that is open source. It even uses a much smoother version of the TinyMCE and thus is much easier to use. There are fourteen basic tips that you need to follow and remember in order to make the most of the visual editor on WordPress. These tips will make you feel like an expert and you will accomplish the task at hand with much ease.

Kitchen Sink:

Apart from the numerous buttons in the Visual Editor of WordPress, there is a special button that is particularly useful. This editor displays just one row that comprises of many buttons and in this row, the Kitchen Sink is the last one in the row. This last and special button is called the Kitchen sink. If you click on this button it will display to you yet another row that has more useful buttons.

Master the Keyboard Shortcuts:

The most annoying task that hampers the speed of your work on WordPress is having to repeatedly hover your mouse here and there only for small purposes of having to add any link to your post or even just to make any text bold or so on. You will be happy to know that the visual editor has some very useful shortcuts that can be used just through keyboard. Even the simplest formatting work can be done through these assortments of shortcuts.

If you use these shortcuts lots of tasks will be made convenient for you. If you don't your mouse much and instead just use these shortcuts you will be able to save a lot of time, thus making the whole task of writing posts much easier for you.

Single and Double Line Spacing:

One major difficulty that writers on WordPress face is the problem of not being able to make paragraphs or any such line breaks. The basic solution to this in visual editor is just simply pressing the Enter key that will make a new paragraph for you. By pressing the ‘enter’ key WordPress will automatically not only make a new paragraph but along with that also make a spacing with double lines.

Simultaneously if all you need to do is make a break of one single line then you just need to press two keys together, namely, the Shift and Enter keys together.

Rearrange the Post Editor screen:

In Visual editor there is a very handy post editor screen that has more than just the post editor. There are many other sections along with this single option. These sections are the categories, the author and the custom fields. You may have realized that when you are writing your posts you don’t need so many of the boxes and the unused boxes are sitting idle occupying unnecessary space.

What you would like the most is more writing space and lesser unneeded icons that take up a lot of your valued space. A cleaner space will undoubtedly help you focus on writing better and concentrate on the work at hand. This is precisely the option that WordPress will give to you. With the help of visual editor you can easily show or hide whatever items you want from the specific edit screen. It will even let you rearrange these items on the basis of how frequently you will need these items.

Using Distraction Free or Full Screen Writing Mode:

At times it so happens that you need a distraction free interface that will not have any kind of items around your screen which could possibly destroy your attention. The visual editor of WordPress offers to you a special writing mode with the help of which you will be able to work on full screen. All you need to do is just click on the small full screen button and that will make the post edit screen on your monitor grow into full screen editor. In this way you will be able to write in a screen where no other form of distraction will disturb you in your work.

Changing Font Size in WordPress Visual Editor:

All creators of web content very well know the crucial role that attractive typography plays in the popularity and attraction of your site. While at times you may want to make a certain portion of the text in your content bold, at other times you would need to increase or decrease the font size of any particular part of your text. If your article is too lengthy you would need to make other such changes to the headings and so on, so that it becomes easily visible to the readers of your website.

Though WordPress by default allows you to make certain basic changes to the size of the font of the headings or the text of the paragraph, there are also some specific detailed changes that you can make to the content of your article or site.

How to Add Columns in WordPress Post Editor:

Sometimes you might feel the need to add more than one column to your WordPress page. Unfortunately WordPress post editor does not give you the solution to this problem. If you must add content that will need including more than one column to your article then all you need to do is just switch to text mode and write whatever HTML is necessary in order to make columns. But this is the more complicated process, and the easier process does not have to be this intricate. With the help of visual editor you don't have to write elaborate HTML or CSS codes and the whole process becomes a lot simpler.

Creating Tables in WordPress Posts:

There are a lot of disadvantages of the default post editor that comes with WordPress editor. Among many such drawbacks, the major one is that the default editor lacks a button that lets the users create tables. Though there is one simple method of adding tables to your WordPress by just making use of the table generator that is available online. Though the disadvantage of these tables is that they are not that attractive to look at. Visual editor also makes this work a lot easier. You can do this directly by adding tables from post editor.

How to Add YouTube Videos in WordPress Post Editor:

The experts will generally advice you to never upload videos to your WordPress website. Instead the safer and more secure way of posting your videos is by use second party hosting service that allows you to share whatever video content you want. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo allow you to share videos through their pages.

Though the process becomes a little longer you should nevertheless opt for it. For this, first you should upload the video of your choice to YouTube or even Vimeo. After this all you need to do is just copy and paste the video URL of your choice in your site's post editor.

Switch to HTML Editor:

On the surface the snazzy features of WordPress may seem attractive to you, but if you look deeper you will realize that there are even some basic features that make the visual editor of WordPress even more fun to use. Keyboard shortcuts, visual appearance are definitely the features that make your WordPress experience much more stylish, but in order to make your experience smoother, you should know all about the text editor of Visual editor. At times you will see that you are facing a lot of issues when you are aligning images or when after having added an image you are not being able to get into the next line. The solution to this problem is just clicking on the tab that says 'Text' and then simply continuing writing.

Adding Buttons Without Using Shortcodes:

One of the interesting features of WordPress is that there are certain plugins in WordPress that will let you add various attractive buttons for calling to action by using shortcodes. The obstacle you will face while accomplishing this task is that no required button will be visible for you in your editor. However visual editor for WordPress has the solution to it. Through this you can add buttons in just the way you would need them.

Check Spelling and Grammar Mistakes:

It is very normal to make some minor spelling or grammatical mistakes while you are writing your post. It might take a lot of time if you re read whatever write to find out if you have made any mistakes or not, but the solution that will help you solve your problem is just by using visual editor.

Paste as Plain Text:

A major problem that you will face if you are copy anything from any webpage and paste it to your WordPress site is that the exact style of the text will also be copied. Visual text editor also solves this problem. All you need to do is press the button that says 'Paste as Text' before you paste the selected text.

Adding Special Characters:

In some special occasions you often need to add a special symbol, a copyright or any registered signature while creating your content. You can do this with the help of the text editor where there is a certain 'Special characters' button. With the help of this you can include specific characters and previously existing symbols to your post. In order to do so all you need to do is press the needed button and this will make a popup appear. This popup contains all the special characters that you could possibly need. From these special characters just click on whatever you need.

The Outdent/Indent feature:

This is another special feature of the visual editor that makes typing easier. If you use the indent button in the visual editor tool box, you will be able to simply relocate the text in by just one level. On the other hand, with the help of the outdent button your text will be taken away by just one level.

The Remove formatting option:

This is yet another option with the help of which you can easily undo all the changes and styles that you made to your writing in one go, collectively. All kinds of formatting that you have done to your text, like making it bold, italic, or applying color to the text can easily by undone. In order to do so all you need to do is just select the section of the text that you want to change and then by clicking on the remove formatting option you can simply undo all the changes you have made to that portion of your post.

Color:

There is a certain text color button in your visual text editor which you can click on if you want to change the color of any portion of your text. All you need to do is just click on the arrow beside the text option of text color. Doing this will give you a variety of colors to choose from. As long as the color sector is open before you, the arrow will be pointing up. If you do not want to choose any color all you need to do is click on the arrow again. But if you select any particular color it will change that color into the default color for all the text you type.

Zainab is a telecommunication engineer from Islamabad, Pakistan having a flair for writing. She loves to read and write on technology and is blogging for years. Among her other favorite past times are photography, crafting, and reading.